Running this blog I often get bands (or their PRs) offering to send me free CDs. Almost without exception it’s usually when they’ve got a new album to promote and are looking for a review.

Recently, however, I received the following email from a guy called Todd Jasko who was once in a band called the Brick City Three:

“Quick random question for you: my band is trying to get rid of our CDs. We’re goofy party hard rock. Can I send you one for free? More detail: we had a band. We had a blast. Our drummer got sick and passed away. Now I’m left with 30ish CDs and I would rather give them away free than try to sell them. Happy to mail you one for free if you like! Or if you want to check us out first, we’re called Brick City three and we’re free digitally on Bandcamp. Let me know, and thanks for your time!”

Intrigued, I checked them out online, instantly liked what I heard and emailed Todd back to take him up on his very kind offer.

https://brickcitythree.bandcamp.com/track/show-me

A few days later, said CD arrived in the post all the way from New Jersey. Quirky, punked-up, party rock with witty self-deprecating lyrics and irresistably catchy hooks, it’s been blasting out of my stereo all week. As per the email, it’s not a recent album. It came out in 2008 and the back cover still advertises the band’s Myspace account! So I’m going to resist doing a full blow-by-blow review but the good news is that the band still have some unreleased tracks and Todd is planning to put a final album together. That, I definitely will review.

A bit more background on the Brick City Three:

Brick City Three was formed in 2006 in Newark, NJ (aka “The Brick City”.) Mike (bass) and Cal (drums) grew up in Jersey listening to Rush and Yes, but none of their friends enjoyed rock music, so they didn’t know any local guitarists. In the early 00’s, Mike met Todd through Mike’s coworker (Pete Levine – former drummer of Flowerhead), and Todd’s habit of remembering people’s birthdays led to him reach out to Mike in August of 2006. Mike remembered Todd from some previous jams at Pete’s house, and he asked Todd if he would want to come out to play some music with Cal and him. Considering Todd was anything BUT an in-demand guitarist, singer, or songwriter, he jumped at the chance! Their first jam included covers of “Rockin’ in the Free World”, “Dig In”, and “Space Oddity”, and they enjoyed it so much that they decided to do it again!

One of their improvised jams during that initial meeting stuck in Todd’s head, and he asked Mike and Cal if he could try bringing an original tune to their next jam. Their second jam birthed this first song as a band, “Show Me”. Eventually, this song would be their album opener as well as every show’s closing number.

Rehearsals continued most Saturdays in Newark, and by the spring of 2007, the band had enough solid originals to start playing shows. What they lacked in talent they made up for in enthusiasm! After a few months, they settled on the moniker “Brick City Three” since Newark was such a big part of their formation.

Between 2007 and 2011, the band played several shows in NYC and NJ, released one studio album, and developed a repertoire of approximately 20 original songs and 15 cover songs. And they weren’t afraid to mix it up! For example: they knew that Mike and Cal’s friends at the Juke Joint (a backyard venue in Newark) weren’t huge rock fans, so they once surprised the crowd with a more dance-friendly set of covers ranging from 70’s disco to 80’s hip-hop to 90’s R&B including a variety of guest singers.

Sadly, Cal’s health slowed the band down, and he eventually passed away in 2015. But we are still left with memories, video, and hours of audio from shows and rehearsals. Todd is currently planning to put together a final, second, posthumous album in the near future to honour the band’s and Cal’s legacies.

Brick City Three and Cal – we salute you! And I very much look forward to hearing the second (and final) album.

Update:

Since I wrote this post Todd made this heart-warming video about his project to distribute the band’s remaining CDs around the world. Watch it here!

More information on the Brick City Three here: https://linktr.ee/brickcitythree